Taking your business from a simple idea to a large corporate entity is an intensive and delicate process. The unfortunate statistic that 90 per cent of startups fail shows the importance of these formative stages. Trying to be the next investment unicorn has as much to do with logistics and planning as the power of the idea at hand.

Let’s cut the chase. The primary challenge of emerging startups is attracting investment capital to scale up operations. As noble as some investors are, their primary motivation is profit, either in the short or long term.

These investors are typically savvy entrepreneurs who can gauge the prospects of your startup by looking at several aspects of your startup.

Here are some things to get right when seeking investor capital:

Expert legal advice

The legal setup of your company is critical. For the uninitiated, the processes and intricacies can seem daunting. A fundamental decision you have to make is determining your preferred business structure.

Different business structures incur different types of liabilities. For instance, incorporating your business as a company is a display of intention to scale up. It also limits the liabilities of the business owner because the company is a separate entity. However, it is more expensive and requires more personnel, unlike a partnership.

Also Read: Why fundraising sucks, and what we can do to help

To this effect, some institutions have specialised in advising startups in the processes of startup growth. This role is something even traditional financial institutions are increasingly looking at.

In this era of robo-investors and the internet, a startup founder might not see the need for expert advice. However, it is essential to utilise experts, especially if you are not familiar with the intrigues of legal documentation.

Experts can advise you on the appropriate contracts to sign, issue to employees, and even keep the company information confidential through Non-disclosure Agreements (NDAs). Legal experts can also give your proper advice as to protecting your ideas through trademarks and patents.

Documentation should not be taken lightly. Deciding to handle it yourself instead of utilising experts can be a fatal error, especially if it leaves the startup vulnerable to external control or flouting regulations. These structures and processes are fundamental in ensuring your startup is credible and secure. 

Know what you are looking for in an investor

As you would guess, venture capital typically comes with strings attached. Milton Friedman is famous for saying, “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch,” and this certainly holds true in investment circles. 

Also Read: How and when to appoint an advisor for your tech startup

For their capital, venture capitalists usually ask for a stake in the startup. Some seek to have control over the governance processes, while others want to take an active role in growing the company.

Remember, some of these investors are big names in the world of finance. Should they choose to touch your startup, it can become news in the financial sector.

Therefore, know what to look for when pitching to an investor. Whether you seek a partner to help grow your business or simply a hands-off investor only interested in stake is a consideration you must have before seeking external capital.

Depending on the nature of your innovation, location, the scale of operation, and the level of capital you seek, a marketing partner can come in handy. If you can’t utilise such a service, taking time to research the investor, no matter how famous they are, can always come in handy.

This effort will not only enable you to pitch appropriately but also manage your expectations as to the kind of offers to expect.

Also Read: Monk’s Hill Ventures’s Peng T. Ong on how to get your startup ready for the new normal

The intangibles

Besides having a competitive advantage and market viability, you have to sell your idea. Intangibles like confidence in your ideas and passion in your business come in handy. 

Billionaire venture capitalist Jim Breyer claims that these intangibles made his decision to become an early investor in Facebook easily. To Breyer, Mark Zuckerberg displayed the ‘courage and intensity’ that venture capitalists look for.

Impressive as your idea is, investors give you money based on trust. Do I trust this person to take this idea to the Promised Land? The answer to this question can hinge on what they observe in meetings, presentations, and even documentation.

However, this does not mean that you have to become overly-exuberant. Over-promising is another gut check that venture capitalists can use to overlook a startup. Just be true to your idea and give it the best shot.

Getting it right in attracting venture capital is not a walk in the park. In any random pool of ideas, it is not given that the best idea on paper will shine brightest down the line.

Also Read: Ascent Capital raises over US$80M for its debut fund to invest in Myanmar’s startups: Report

It is as much about the process as it is about the substance.

With adequate preparation and expert advice, it can seem smooth. Having a reliable partner to guide your pitching process is vital. Be smart, be bold, and, ultimately, be prepared.

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The start of the decade has not been kind to the global community. Within the first few months, we were greeted with the greatest pandemic in a century, COVID-19. Soon enough, we found ourselves plunged into the greatest recession since the Great Depression.

Among all these negative sentiments, we ought to spare a thought for the Class of 2020 and future graduates in the near future. They will be entering the worst job market in recent memory and many are struggling to secure jobs.

The situation has been so dire that the government has stepped in with the SGUnited Jobs Package for graduates to access short-term and long term job opportunities and pick up job-related skills and capabilities for when the economy picks up after recovery, they would be able to capitalise on the new opportunities.

Silver Lining

However, all hope is not lost. Instead of viewing the current situation as a bane, graduates should adopt a different set of lenses and find the positives of the current state of things present. They should look to explore other industries given the opportunity costs will be lower due to poor job prospects in the general economy.

Digress from the norm and look past the traditional Multinational Corporations (MNCs) that we have often associated a good, stable job with. Take the plunge and join the startup ecosystem.

Also Read: iSTOX graduates from MAS Regulatory Sandbox to fully operate its capital market trading platform

Value of startups

Startups exist due to the presence of institutional problems that litter the society we live in. They identify problems, develop solutions, and execute them to solve these problems and value-add to the community. TreeDots, a Singapore startup started in 2017 by three graduates who rejected job offers from UBS and Oliver Wyman, is a testament to the above statement.

By providing a platform that allows food suppliers to re-distribute their unsold inventory to organisations that can use them, suppliers turn potential losses into profits. Furthermore, buyers get quality ingredients at lower prices, and the community benefits from less food wastage.

Wateroam, founded by undergraduates from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2014, solidifies the view that more graduates are taking the plunge and joining the startup ecosystem with the hope of making a difference to others. By providing clean water access, they hope to empower individuals to lead a healthier life, free of water-borne diseases.

Therefore, giving them access to better livelihoods. TreeDots and Wateroam form just a small slice of the ever-increasing pie of startups started by graduates to solve problems that include Xfers, which eliminates the hassle of collecting payments and the high fees of using existing payment platforms by creating an automated banking network that allows users to conduct transactions in a secure and low-cost manner.

Perhaps the most notable startup that has penetrated the Singapore community and provided convenient solutions to our daily lives is Grab. Travelling and ordering food has never been easier and their foray into e-payments has the potential to make physical cash a forgone thought. The business models of the above firms are the hallmark of the startup ecosystem.

Also Read: 3 lessons I learned as a student entrepreneur

Identify problems, develop solutions before executing them to value-add to people’s lives. Hence, graduates wanting to be involved in something greater than themselves and impact the lives of others should take the plunge and join the startup industry.

Use age to your advantage

Graduates also have time on their side and those looking to utilise their youthfulness to grind and hustle to constantly improve themselves will find the startup ecosystem enticing. Filled with challenges and failures, it is not a glamourous industry to work in.

It is fast-paced, high pressure with the constant need to deliver results. Instead of viewing it as a burden and shy away from it, those who perceive it as an opportunity to challenge yourself and grow in the process will enjoy working in this ecosystem.

Failures in the startup industry are viewed differently compared to the conventional corporate world. Just ask Khoo Kar Kiat. His startup business, FastBee, collapsed despite two years of hard work. However, he shared that taking the entrepreneurial plunge has put him on a path of self-discovery.

Given the average of entrepreneurs in Asia is 28, graduates should dive in and gain experience in the startup industry and learn from those who have walked the path and experienced the peaks and troughs of creating a startup, before proceeding to the next stage and create their own company.

Also Read: Lessons from a student entrepreneur on building a successful startup

Another advantage of entering the startup ecosystem early is that it reduces the need to unlearn and relearn new ideas. This is particularly true given the fast-paced and rapidly changing ecosystem startups are associated with. Fresh off the education system and into the working society, they would have minimal notions of workplace cultures and ideas that would have made future integration into the startup industry difficult given the unconventional approach to working and finding solutions that startups adopt.

Ball in the court

Ultimately, for the Class of 2020 and graduates in years to come, the ball is in your court. As with all adversities in life, there is always a positive lining to it. It is up to you to find it. Be accepting of the current situation and numerous curved balls that the pandemic has thrown at you.

You are unable to change the fact that the pandemic has happened nor can you control its impact on the economy. However, what you can control is how you respond to it.

Take the chance to try something different and challenge yourself every day to be better. Take the plunge and join the startup ecosystem and give yourself a challenge while helping others.

Challenges are what make life interesting. Overcoming them is what makes it meaningful.

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Though this week has brought news of another outbreak of COVID-19 in Beijing, many people in Asia are already looking to a post-pandemic future. One of their major concerns is data privacy. Across the region, contact tracing apps were used to track citizens’ movements, and in many countries using these apps was mandatory.

Given the history of data privacy violations in China and other Asian countries, it seems legitimate to ask whether these apps will be used after the pandemic to continue to track citizens.

These concerns come on top of widespread worries about the eagerness of Asian governments to deploy new invasive technologies, such as the way that policymakers have attempted to undermine privacy in the cashless economy, and targeted tech startups for IP theft. 

In this article, we’ll take a brief look at how governments in Asia dealt with privacy concerns during the pandemic, and assess the likelihood that privacy rights will be restored to citizens after the pandemic is over.

Tracing apps in Asia

Almost as soon as the pandemic broke out, countries in Asia began to develop technological systems for contact tracing. In the West, smartphone apps that were designed to perform this function faced much opposition: citizens were worried that they would undermine the push to make smartphones secure and that widespread data collection was a civil rights infringement.

Some countries in Asia had no such qualms. In Singapore, citizens were required to download an app named TraceTogether. In Hong Kong, quarantine orders on new arrivals were enforced via another app, StayHomeSafe, which relied on a wristband to track users’ movements and ensure that they stayed home.

Also Read: Blockchain is the future of data privacy

Infringements of these rules carried significant penalties: up to six months in prison and a potential HK$3,200 fine. Other countries in Asia have gone even further.

In South Korea, citizens were required to download an app that tracked all of their movements and sent citizens updates if they had potentially come into contact with a carrier of the disease.

Consent and privacy

There are two striking elements of the Asian response to the roll-out of these technologies. One is that governments in Asia, unlike their Western counterparts, largely ignored concerns that such apps violated the privacy of users.

The other, perhaps even more surprising, is that on the whole citizens in these countries welcomed the deployment of these apps.

In South Korea, for instance, have had great success in developing tracking apps that go well beyond the capabilities of the government-sanctioned system. Corona 100m, one such app, was downloaded over one million times in Korea in just a few weeks.

In addition, tracking apps like this appear to have huge support in South Korea: a government poll reported in Nikkei Asian Review found that more than 70 per cent of respondents supported the tracking of citizens through systems like this.

Also Read: Life after COVID-19: How and why smart cities need to focus on sustainability

These statistics point to a slightly problematic characteristic of data privacy in Asia. There appears to be a higher level of consent, at least in some countries, for the government to collect data on citizens. 

To see the extent of the difference between Asia and the West when it comes to data privacy, it’s instructive to look at attempts to roll out contact tracing apps in Europe.

The ability to track contacts during infectious diseases has been around for more than a decade, and Cambridge University’s voluntary FluPhone app was an early example in 2011. Using the app was voluntary, and fewer than one per cent of people in the test area downloaded it.

Striking a Balance

All this said it should be noted that the COVID-19 outbreak has been a unique situation, and it’s unlikely that such high levels of consent for government surveillance would be seen outside of a global pandemic. Nonetheless, the relatively unopposed roll-out of these apps across Asia raises some worrying questions about what will happen to digital privacy after the pandemic.

A warning sign of what could happen comes from China. Contact tracing apps were not mandated in that country, but not because the government wasn’t tracking its citizens. 

Instead, and as The Economist reported a few months ago, Beijing merely re-purposed its already huge programme of digital surveillance. In other words, citizens in China did not need to download a specific app for the government to know where they were at any particular moment, because the government already has this information. 

Also Read: From data novice to data expert: How tech startups can handle data privacy

It could be argued, of course, that a slight hit to citizens’ privacy is a small price to pay for saving hundreds (or thousands) of lives through contact tracing. Nonetheless, contact tracing apps of the kind seen all over the continent are a worrying sign that governments across the region – and even in some of its more liberal states – are willing to use emergency powers to track their citizens. This will not, fear some analysts, be a capability that they will give up easily. 

A clash of values

Ultimately, the differing debates in the West and Asia regarding the privacy implications of contact tracing illuminate the deep rift between the two regions when it comes to views about the legitimate power of the state.

Countries in the West have struggled to roll out surveillance programs of the kind seen in Asia, and not least because doing so appears to undermine the core values that underpin these democracies.

The future is always difficult to predict, but it is clear that there is a balance to be struck in Asia between respecting the private lives of citizens and allowing governments the tools to respond to emergencies. It’s unlikely that activists in the region will be able to convince politicians to give up these systems entirely.

But perhaps new technologies, such as blockchain and the kind of de-centralised apps being trialed in the USA, can provide a more private future for the citizens of Asia.

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This article is published in partnership with Startup SG, an initiative of Enterprise Singapore that provides comprehensive support for startup development in Singapore.

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Fundraising without meeting face-to-face is the new norm in a post-COVID-19 world. While startups fight to stay afloat, it is also important to continue to seek funding to drive business growth.

As companies and decision-makers are forced to make deals and conduct business virtually, take this opportunity to reach out to investors who may now have more time to hear out and aim to close these deals.

Get ahead in the new climate of investment

In the current economic climate, a good leader in times of crisis is more defining than being a good leader in almost any other scenario. This is the time your values stand out and you show who you truly are. This means, being empathetic to your team, stakeholders, and customers. Listen first and be transparent. Take care of yourself and your team, support your teams with kids, and check in on each other. Here is some advice I have for startups to tide them through the crisis:

Find one thing to focus on

When growth has stalled and certain industries have come to a standstill, turn your focus to improving and building a killer product in preparation for the recovery. Ask yourself these questions: What drives usage? How have habits changed? What features can I improve on now? What are the barriers to growth? During this time, you should think about how you can prepare yourself for the next spurt of growth.

Pivot to temporary revenue-generating activities

Consider temporarily pivoting to cash-generating activities, or in some cases, structural solutions. One way would be to team up with a vertical partner. A good example of this is when Elon Musk merged his startup X.Com with Confinity during the dot-com boom to form Paypal.

Extend your cash runway

This is a challenge for many, and we recommend keeping enough runway for at least 18 months. If you do not think you have enough, think of contingency plans and what non-essential expenses the business can function without. For example, if your team is small, can you do without office space and go fully remote for the near future?

Also Read: How Tokopedia managed customer experience and engagement amidst the pandemic

Similarly, focus your energy and time on what drives the business forward. If you do this successfully, you will be in pole position to benefit from the next decade’s worth of growth and be part of the path to recovery.

Despite the current economic climate, VCs are continuing to invest in startups, and some are even being done virtually. Startups need to ride this trend and proactively reach out to people who may now have more time to hear them out. However, they also need to bear in mind that valuations have been slightly lowered, so it is important to strike a balance between fundraising and reaching their goals.

Rising to the challenge

As a Startup SG Partner, Antler has worked with Enterprise Singapore to build a strong base of startups in Singapore. These startups have mitigated short-term challenges while seeking new opportunities to grow. Some homegrown startups that have benefitted from Antler’s mentorship and Startup SG’s support include:

Sama (Singapore), a platform built to address labour exchange in Singapore has now pivoted to address COVID-19 by offering a solution for companies seeking to transfer foreign construction workers across sectors to manage their manpower needs during COVID-19. They hope to help workers find jobs while helping companies fulfill their labour needs.

Also Read: How startups can tap community networks to pivot for growth amidst the pandemic

Cognicept (Singapore), offers a human-in-the-loop robot intervention system and teleoperation service. During the current global crisis, they have pledged to donate this service to any businesses using robots to support COVID-19 efforts and response.

Calling on the community

A fundamental belief at Antler is that we support and invest in businesses that are solving real problems and have a positive impact on the population. This pandemic has been the largest humanitarian crisis we have witnessed in our lifetime and so we called upon the best and brightest to come up with solutions to chart the way forward and help humanity.

Antler committed US$500,000 to startups tackling COVID-19 to propose solutions in Mitigation, Medical Equipment, Remote Health, and Digital Tools. I am pleased to say that the community response was overwhelming, as we received over 1500 applications from 100 countries.

Additionally, with support from Enterprise Singapore, we have developed another layer of support for the companies, holding frequent webinars with our global network of advisors, partnering with organisations in various regions, and making our teams available for more frequent coaching.

We have also continued investing and building companies, with an additional 58 companies invested in and supported globally. In Singapore, we have been part of Mentor for Hope, a mentorship program where Antler Southeast Asia’s leadership give advice to startups affected by COVID-19.

We are holding our first virtual Demo Day out for Southeast Asia out of Singapore for our fourth cohort on July 16.

To the class of 2020 graduates

What you are doing right now is incredibly important. Now is the time to create growth, new employment opportunities, and solve the world’s largest problems. If you look at the companies that came out after a crisis, they are some of the biggest companies right now.

A final call-out to all students graduating this summer. Look out for the imminent launch of Antler Launch Academy, an online free five-week offering for aspiring entrepreneurs.

We understand you are entering one of the toughest job markets in generations. Use this as an opportunity to kick-start your career by getting out there and learning. What you will learn will enable you to realise your dreams and build your own company in the future.

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There is a common belief that to be a successful entrepreneur, you need a great idea. But a great idea on its own is not enough. At the heart of every success, you will find people. Companies are made of people. Successful companies are made of talented people, at every level of the organisation.

Looking at companies like Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Netflix, Zappos, these successes are rightfully attributed to their inspiring founders’ vision and leadership. These founders saw a gap. They came up with a smart and innovative idea to fill this gap. And they developed the right strategies to make it happen: the right business strategy, the right go-to-market strategy, the right marketing strategy … and the right people strategy.

Without a strong people strategy, it is not possible for founders to move from an idea (no matter how exceptional and revolutionary it is) to a unicorn, let alone to a successful and sustainable business over time. Founders cannot do it all by themselves. If they want to scale, they have to rely on other people as the company grows. And these people have to be equally talented, if not more so!

The terrible reality is that 90% of startups fail and there is a common set of reasons why. In a 2019 study, CB Insights compiled a list of the Top 20 Reasons Startups Fail. The top nine are:

1. No market need
2. Ran out of cash
3. Not the right team
4. Got outcompeted
5. Pricing/cost issue
6. Poor product
7. Need/lack business model
8. Poor marketing
9. Ignore customers

Each of these is linked in one way or another to a failure in leadership and human capital. We could even argue that the issues related to the product, marketing and go-to-market strategy highlight a broader capability issue at the team level, an inability of the leaders to build a strong team and to drive a business effectively.

Also Read: Book Excerpt: In this digital age, customer journey as we know it may no longer exist

As a business gets started, things may seem rather simple because you, as the founder, are in control: the company is small and you can react to issues as you encounter them. You can hire and fire fast. You can keep an eye on the quality of employees hired in the team and their level of performance delivery. But this becomes more challenging from the moment you grow beyond the point where the founding team has regular contact with all employees.

The quality of the people in your organisation defines the quality and sustainability of your business. The quality of the strategies will only be as good as the people developing them. The execution of the strategies will only be as good as the people in the teams who do the actual work. And the quality of the talent you can attract and hire will only be as good as the people already working in your company.

It’s not even about getting ahead. It’s a matter of survival. Particularly in times of crisis, like the COVID-19 pandemic, having all this in place is not a luxury. Too many founders who are worried about the survival of their company only focus on the financial aspect of the business, but it is those who successfully navigate their crew through hard times that come out stronger. When the boat is rocking on a stormy sea, you need everyone to roll up their sleeves and row in the same direction. How can a disoriented crew do that if the founder isn’t captaining the ship? Indeed, making it through a crisis is the real stress test of your organisation.

Companies with a good people strategy enjoy a special status in their chosen field too. You probably already know who these are in your industry. Their names come up in conversation … in positive ways. They are known for their positive work environment. They attract and hire the best talent. Their employees (and even candidates) speak highly of them. These companies are in demand. People want to work there, people want to stay there, people are committed and deliver at a high standard.

Most founders think that people strategy is something you only have to worry about once you reach a critical number of employees. Usually around 150-200 employees when the first people issues really start to show. They then hire a Human Resources team to handle it. But there are plenty of companies with well-qualified HR professionals that do not come close to the status of ‘best company to work for’. They have a recruiting team, they have cool videos on their career page, they have fun employee engagement initiatives, they even offer free food in a full-stocked pantry … but still the reviews on Glassdoor do not do their
effort justice.

Also Read: Book Excerpt: How chatbot threatens to upend an entire industry in the Philippines

So, what is the secret sauce? What do Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Netflix or Zappos do differently? How come Google has been on Fortune’s ‘Best Company To Work For’ list for 11 years and landed in the top spot for 6 years in a row? How has Zappos managed to be consistently rated as one of the ‘Best Places To Work
For’? How does LinkedIn constantly reach one of the highest scores on Glassdoor?

The common factor is that their employees are happy, dedicated and safe at work. These companies have a high volume of applications and low attrition rates. Their employees recognise and value these companies’ investment in their wellbeing. They have a clear employee value proposition and clear idea of the type of people that best fit their organisation, which are achieved through the development of a clear people strategy.

We know of these companies now, but they did not become like that overnight. They were built like that. They articulated the people strategy early and translated it into the right work environment for them from the beginning. Google had their values and key people management principles set within the first two years.
Google founders’ altruistic principles and ‘societal goals’ were clearly articulated in their mission and values from the launch of the company in 1998, and the famous OKRs were in place by 2000.

All companies have a different story. They do not go through the same stages of growth at the exact same time. They do not experience the same challenges. They do not share the same beliefs and culture. However, good people strategy underpins the success of these companies, and there are some similarities and trends that you need to know in order to build your organisation – starting now.

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Anne Caron is an international speaker, author and consultant. Drawing on her 10 years’ experience as a senior HR executive at Google, she set up her consulting practice in 2015 to support founders in building high performing and positive organisations.

Through her experience working with entrepreneurs, she developed a methodology for startups to grow the right organisation and team, which she describes in her book From Zero to 1,000.

This story has been excerpted by courtesy of the publisher from From Zero to 1,000 by Anne Caron (Anne Caron, 2020).

To purchase the book, please visit this site. The paper version is available at Amazon from July 25.

Image Credit: Damir Kopezhanov on Unsplash

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With the world slowly getting back to normal, offices partially opening up and getting better at co-existing with the COVID-19 virus; the new normal is going to command a new outlook.

Whether your startup is pivoting its strategy or looking to fundraise or struggling to communicate with relevant stakeholders; our contributors’ opinions are here to your rescue.

Handy for founders

Adapting has been a key theme at PatSnap since the onset of COVID-19. From shifting to a new WFH model, managing the COVID situation in their East and West offices, and adjusting to the needs of our customers during this unprecedented time, they’ve moved quickly and adapted expertly. Founder and CEO, Jeffrey Tiong, shares their story.

Fifty per cent of the success of your first pitch is in your problem statement, says Cocoon Capital’s Ine Jacobsen. Why? It sets the tone of the pitch and helps us understand the market size, the need for the solution, and who’s paying. Having seen and heard over 2,000 pitches in the last year alone, she realised 90 per cent of startup founders struggle to clearly define their problem statement. Here’s how to do it right.

How many startups are on a perpetual tour of gas stations? Going from one funding round to another with the dream of eventually getting acquired without ever becoming a self-sustaining business. Knowing when to fundraise externally, especially in COVID times, can make or break your startup, says venture investor Sam Gibbs.

Gearing up for the new normal

In early March 2020, Indonesia announced its first confirmed case of COVID-19. Since then, there have been rapid shifts in consumers’ lifestyles, purchase patterns, and consumer behaviour as they are starting to recalibrate their budget. In this contributed post, Tokopedia’s customer engagement chief, Rudy Dalimunthe, shares his trade secrets on how to manage customer service during a crisis.

2020 was supposed to be an exciting year for Southeast Asia’s thriving startup ecosystem. This is an unprecedented global crisis where even the large corporations are taking a beating from, so startups need to rewire their culture and emerge stronger.

As the pandemic crisis grows, brands have been compelled to rethink their communication strategies, both internal and external, so as to continue reaching out to their target audiences including employees, investors, and consumers, etc., effectively. PR professional Anu Gupta, shares guiding principles of communications in light of the new normal.

COVID-19 has disrupted the trajectory of startups and has split them into two distinct paths: an accelerated upward hockey stick or a steep drop off a cliff. Edmas Neo, CEO of Action Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE), shares a back to work toolkit for startups to adapt to the new normal.

Food for thought

Miguel Encarnacion is a basketball-obsessed venture capitalist. In his contributed post, he has sharedsix VC lessons from the lens of basketball stalwarts featured in Netflix’s latest show The Last Dance.

Startups play a very important role in the business ecosystem in that they aim to disrupt the societal norms and in the process, solve problems that bring about value for people in the community. An enthusiastic graduate shares the lessons from his 10-day spent volunteering stint in Cambodia and argues why Cambodia provides ample playground for student entrepreneurs and fintech startups.

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COVID-19 has pushed millions of people into unemployment; it has brought whole industries to their knees and led global markets to haemorrhage trillions of dollars.

But as optimistic economic historians like to remind us, the period following a severe downturn is always one of growth and prosperity. In the early twentieth century, following the hardships of the war and depression, living standards improved and a new society confident of its future and place in the world emerged.

Asia gets ready to return to work

While it may be too early to call a return to normalcy, on April 6, the International Monetary Fund cited limited but encouraging signs of recovery in China. New daily cases are low, and Wuhan has officially reopened after months of lockdown.

Travel restrictions have eased, and China has managed to get large parts of its economy up and running from the complete standstill it experienced in February 2020. According to official figures, industrial output was down by a less-than-expected 1.1 per cent in March from a year earlier, signalling that factory activity was restarting faster than initially anticipated.

Most analysts agree that the March data shows China’s economy is past the worst. However, recovery will be slow as investors and consumers regain trust and get back to a semblance of normality when it comes to consumption. But as AxiCorp’s Asia Pacific market strategist Stephen Innes has put it, “The lights are back on, and people are working… so in the end consumption will recover.”

And in North Asia, countries that followed strict enforcement regimes and adopted social distancing early, have seen new cases drop to single figures like China. With enhanced monitoring and track and trace technologies being rolled-out, countries such as Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and South Korea are now gearing up to restart their economies.

Also Read: How startups can adapt to a reopening economy

Lessons learned from Asia

As more economies across Asia and other parts of the world gradually move towards reopening, business leaders must now think about what the future holds. The return is a critical business event; leaders at all levels must plan for it if they wish to find themselves at a strategic advantage and want to thrive in what will be a completely new business environment.

It is a given that business practices will change. As Ariana Huffington recently wrote about the pandemic, “Nothing should go back to normal. If we go back to the way things were, we will have lost the lesson.”

So, how do leaders prepare for the return to work following the COVID-19 crisis and manage a new future and way of doing things? Here is our five-step plan:

Determine what will change and what will stay the same in the new world

Some things will change a lot, some will change slightly, but whatever you do, don’t stay the same. Use this opportunity to get ahead by driving change. Start by Aerial Mapping. Map out jobs, tasks, and processes that you know have changed. Challenge any default assumptions and be willing to experiment. Analyse what has and hasn’t worked during lock-down. Think about what can be improved for the longer-term benefit of the business.

For the processes that you think need to remain the same, you will still most probably need to change how certain things get done in order to comply with new social distancing rules. You will need to adapt to the everyday workplace to keep your staff and clients safe. This is the time to prepare by revisiting the flow of work, the materials you may need to keep business functioning, and any new standard operating procedures that might be required.

An example of this can be found in supermarkets where cashiers and customers are now separated by a clear plastic partition; or at Honeywell Aerospace’s Malaysian manufacturing operations, for example, work from home practices has been implemented to minimise workplace exposure.

Also Read: Life after COVID-19: How and why smart cities need to focus on sustainability

But manufacturing facilities have also remained open with enhanced site cleaning, strict physical distancing, and use of PPE. Standard processes have been modified to ensure both staff safety and that customers’ needs are still being met.

Define what the first 100-days looks like

A 100-day plan will help leaders to focus people on a new way of doing things post the COVID-19 period. For example, in your maintenance unit, what does it mean to have a production run at 75 per cent capacity on a particular date?

Or how can output be maintained with employee work arrangements transitioning from home back into the workplace at the 10, 25, or 60-day mark?

A 100-day plan should contain clear goals and targets, relevant metrics and indicators, and review measures. For example, what are the dates when sales targets are ramped up in line with customer demand returning to normal? As part of your plan:

• Be present. Stay in touch with your business’s community with clear, transparent, and accurate communications, especially for those directly affected.
• Review internal processes. Now is the perfect time to improve your processes, iron out the inefficiencies, and eliminate any waste that might exist. Take the opportunity to implement positive change and transformation.
• Define a new operating model. Inevitably things have changed at some level, even if that’s minimal. What is the new way of doing things to comply with government rules, keep production going, maintain the safety of staff, improve internal health and safety regulation, and provide extraordinary customer service to clients all at the same time.

What are the main inputs needed, what are the business requirements and resources needed to move forward?

Also Read: East Ventures forms new US$88M seed fund for startups weathering COVID-19, announces first close

Have a robust communications plan that connects employees to the purpose and builds trust

When a crisis occurs, a workplace can quickly become chaotic. COVID-19 hasn’t been just a mini-crisis – it has been an unprecedented event at a scale hard to fathom. An event that so many were unprepared for. Leaders aren’t immune to this.

They have had to move at lightning speed to determine the best communication response during the crisis. And now leaders need to build trust for the next phase of communications and practice being transparent, accurate, and consistent. A solid communications plan helps you to avoid the spread of misinformation, and it also helps to ensure continuous productivity, allowing people to trust in the business and feel connected to the company’s vision and purpose.

People want to know what’s going on in this new post-COVID world. It is vital for business leaders to consistently communicate both good and bad news, and avoid unrealistic promises around what the post-COVID recovery look likes. Nurturing a sense of trust through open and honest communications will aid recovery efforts and create a sense of community.

Asian businesses offer many great examples of strong communications plans that have successfully built trust during the pandemic. For example, Master Kong, a Chinese noodle producer, quickly refocused on e-commerce, smaller stores, and digitization while reviewing the supply-and-demand planning on a daily basis. By doing so, and communicating strongly, they strengthened trust through their entire supply chain.

Create a localisation strategy supported by operational agility

Inevitably, global and regional COVID-19 cross border movement restrictions will remain in place or be flexibly managed for months to come. The challenge is how quickly and effectively can you adjust to a new way of working. How do you win and retain clients outside your region? How do you ensure a sustainable supply of critical material and skilled resources where they are needed to generate revenue? How do you generate revenue from resource pools now held indefinitely in certain locations?

New communication tools such as Zoom and Teams, and collaborative remote working platforms will definitely be needed to make the above scenarios feasible. More critical for the long term will be strategic changes to sourcing policies and local delivery partnerships to bridge boundaries and resourcing gaps.

Also Read: These 3 trends will help you to get back on top in the post-pandemic world

Research has shown how the emergence of state-developed special industrial zones, such as those in China, Indonesia, Johor Bahru in Malaysia, and Gujarat and Uttarakhand in India, coupled with locally available raw materials and skilled manpower, have put certain Asian markets in a better position to support operational agility through the nearshoring of manufacturing.

Companies in all industries, should begin to analyse their supply chain risk management strategy and the weaknesses that were presented during the crisis. Most critically and importantly, as economies begin to open up but borders continue to be on lockdown, there is an important focus on repatriation of sourcing materials.

For this, companies can benefit from artificial intelligence tools, supported by a robust supply chain management system in the procurement office, to source hundreds of previously unknown vendors, reduce cost and secure a stable and local supply chain.

When trade disruptions inevitably occur in the future, some manufacturers will always fall into a defensive strategy to absorb the impact. But those that have invested in a more advanced sourcing strategy and procurement infrastructure will have a far better set of options to choose from. They will also have far more operational agility to pivot without losing momentum, allowing them to outpace less agile competitors.

Redefine your Business Continuity Planning (BCP) strategy to navigate future crises

The coronavirus pandemic, like every crisis, is unfolding with a beginning, a middle, and hopefully an end. It is useful to think of where we have come from, where are we are now, and where we would like to be in the future. As this future unfolds, some organizations will be resilient. For others, it will be catastrophic. The actions of leaders in the mid of this crisis will significantly determine their fate.

RMA Group is an automotive company in Bangkok. It already had a BCP ready for a black swan event such as COVID-19. CIO Alex Konnaris says “Over the years we have experienced a number of situations where the staff has needed to work remotely and, combined with our long-term strategy for digital transformation, we have migrated a number of critical systems to the cloud and adapted our internet connectivity. RMA Group’s BCP has helped their business navigate the crisis: “We are also gaining benefits from cloud services which provide additional security and monitoring features that boost confidence to an operating mobile workforce.”

Also Read: BRI Ventures launches new fund to help Indonesian startups thrive amid COVID-19

Your business’s future BCP strategy will ultimately look different based on your experiences this time around. Capitalize on the learnings from this black swan event and update your BCP with learnings from the last few weeks and months to make your business more robust. Allow it to guide the blueprint for fast recovery; one that includes the safety of your employees, undisputed excellent service to your clients, a strong and resilient supply chain, and a cash release plan.

The message is clear: be ready

As with any crisis, it can be difficult to turn your mind to what needs to be done when the acute phase is over. Most leaders are focused on the now and adopt a paternalistic approach wanting to shield their people from the truth.

However, if we look to businesses in Asia, where communications have built trust, technology has been leveraged, business continuity plans have been prepared ahead of time and operational agility has been aided by localization strategies, we can gain valuable insights into how to approach the return to work.

As Chinese military strategist and philosopher Sun Tzu opined in the Fifth Century BC, “within crisis are the seeds of opportunity”. While it has been a disaster for so many, the COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to create great opportunities for those who are prepared.

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Be it creative ads or bold marketing campaigns, Singapore’s digital services company Circles.Life has always been able to put itself in the spotlight.

Last year, the telco company generated buzz by poking fun at rivals for their ”contracts and poor customer service” and this year it has been keeping users hooked by roping in comedians from Southeast Asia on its “Discover” platform out of its many endeavours.

Not being hesitant to quirky ideas, it has also recently an internal model called the “Entrepreneur’s in-residence” (EIR) where employees are given the opportunity to become co-founders of their departments within the company.

What separates EIR from a managerial position is that individuals take full ownership of the product they are heading by handling everything from budgeting to recruiting. It also gives them the autonomy to make important decisions and experiment with new ideas.

Carrie Sim and Benjamin Choo, who are currently a part of the new model, and the heads of the Daily Poll and Discover platform recently sat down with e27 to share insights on their processes behind crafting engaging content that generates high ROI for the company’s overall growth.

Here’s how they do it.

Also Read: Afternoon News Roundup: SoftBank cautions US$24B in losses; Circles.Life rolls out special package for COVID-19 front-liners

Analytics is all

According to the duo, part of the process of figuring out what kind of content needs to be pushed out involves spending a lot of time analysing data and metrics.

The Daily Poll is one such feature within the app which keeps users constantly entertained with fun quizzes and at the same time achieves the goal of providing valuable insights for effective content creation.

Sim explains that the team spends a substantial amount of time reading data to come up with ideas that have a higher chance of sticking with users rather than following random trends that end up failing in the end.

“The idea here is that since we have a lot of space to experiment, we can do a lot of different things within polls and observe which one sticks instead of spending too much time focusing on something on social media and then realising it doesn’t work,” Sim says.

“So it is really good in this aspect whereby it’s a really short and fast way for us to do adaptations before we invest time into creating, different forms of content. So it’s a balance between being creative and taking the risk to do something new with what the users tell us they want to see more,” she continues.

However, this does not mean that the process is a sure shot road to success.

Also Read: Morning News Roundup: Singapore’s Circles.Life lets go of employees despite recent fundraise

Sim further adds, “It is not always that our experimentation succeeds. And when that happens we think about why it failed and share the findings across teams and even during board meetings to explain what we learnt from it. But that’s how creativity happens, right? We try it out. It doesn’t work, but hold our accountability for it.”

Distributing for different channels

As digital marketing grows in popularity, there is a growing potential to use different social media channels to market a product or a service.

Part of their approach to receiving maximum engagement involves customising content across different channels – Sim admits that sometimes it’s not just about creating great content but also about effectively distributing it.

“So content is not just a quality game, but it’s also a quantity game. Even though quality over quantity is a good mantra to have as a baseline so that one does not put up bad content. Sometimes you have to think and look at it from a different perspective. The Daily Poll is one example of it, for example, the information received from it can be utilised in many ways as a blog post, a social media post or even as a way to improve emails for users.”

In Sim’s own words, “Valuable insights can help drive other pieces of content that we create.”

Also Read: Circles.Life co-founder on expansion, price wars and learning eight languages

Choo adds to the point saying that it is worth noting that the audience in different channels has different ways of engaging. He believes that each channel has users that exhibit vastly different behaviour and preferences for content.

“Even on the Discover platform, we have multiple channels of distribution like Facebook, Instagram, Telegram and even our own platform. The question we ask is should we market the same way for all our channels, or should we at least customise a personalised content based on who we think is the audience on each channel? Maybe the users using Telegram are different from the users using Facebook or Instagram,” he elaborates.

“So essentially this helps us in creating the right message for the right people and in turn helps us generate much more engaged content users,” Choo stresses.

Racing for relatability

Choo believes that being relatable with audiences is one way to grab attention and bring users closer to the company.

One of the ways to do this would be to listen to people on social media, ask them, or watch to see which of the posts receive the most number interaction or shares. Being a people-oriented company, this is something that Circles.Life constantly strives for.

“Recently when the Facebook news came out on certain fun features, the Daily Polls teams and the Discover team really reacted quickly and came up with Instagram filters and templates where our users could directly engage with us,” Choo points out.

Also Read: Circles.Life co-founder on expansion, price wars and learning eight languages

Other instances of being fleet-footed to react with external situations were when the company managed to organise a comedy show during lockdown to beat the “at home blues”.

However, relatability can differ in brands, which is why the two advice startups to focus on the demographics of their users and their behaviour patterns.

Both identify that one of the patterns in the current consumer landscape in the increasing popularity of bite-sized content, because of its snappy and quick nature. The two further add that this style is one thing that the team is currently pushing towards producing.

To conclude

Sim and Choo both believe that content creation is not simply about following rules of thumb of what’s trending on social media, but a process of organisation and deep analysis on a variety of factors that will end up creating effective social engagement which can then be used to further the growth of various verticals within the company.

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Image Credit: Circles.Life

Register for our next webinar:  How to pivot your growth strategy post COVID-19

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The coronavirus has wreaked havoc for startups around the world, with unprecedented employee layoffs and steep declines in startup financing. Global lockdowns are disrupting industries and altering consumer behaviour, with many of these changes likely to persist beyond the current crisis.

Singapore’s startups have responded strongly to the crisis, with several medtech startups rising to the occasion to rapidly iterate, manufacture, and scale solutions to fight the global war against COVID-19.

With Singapore being the deep tech hub of Asia, six founders of Singapore-based deep tech startups share how they are responding to the crisis, and what startups in various industries can do to position themselves for success in a post-coronavirus world.

The ultimate test

For B2B startups focused on corporate or industrial digitalisation, the coronavirus is the ultimate test to prove their solution’s effectiveness in complex real-time scenarios.

This is a window of opportunity for startups, as companies across the world are eager to embrace solutions that can minimise business disruption, improve business resilience, and bolster market leadership.

Also Read: Life after COVID-19: How and why smart cities need to focus on sustainability

With governments encouraging workers to telecommute where possible, Partha Ray, founder, and CEO of Industry 4.0 startup dDriven, has been hard at work helping his Fortune 500 process manufacturing customers retain remote monitoring and control of their operations. They do it by creating live digital twins, in order to mitigate potential supply chain risks. “We want to do our part to offer our solutions at a highly discounted price point to industries that are severely hit by this crisis,” he adds.

Similarly, the shift to remote corporate workplaces and fast-evolving regulatory developments arising from COVID-19 has given regtech firm RADICALi an extreme-scenario case to demonstrate the effectiveness of their virtual workflow and collaboration tools for compliance professionals. Hardesh Singh, CEO and co-founder, mentions that “adopting smart compliance solutions can enable companies to easily track and act on regulations, to deliver much-needed business certainty during this time.”

Pivoting to new sectors

Industry disruptions are forcing startups to rethink their business strategy and adapt quickly for survival. For startups that are pivoting to areas that are experiencing a growth surge, business diversification through entering new sectors can yield high returns.

The hospitality industry has been hard hit by COVID-19, and even non-human ‘employees’ are on the chopping block. “We have many robots working in service and hospitality, which have been off-boarded in favour of maintaining human staff,” says Michael Sayre, CEO of Cognicept.

Nonetheless, opportunities have surfaced in other areas for his robotic intervention and teleoperation products, which enable the fast deployment of robots in dynamic and unpredictable environments. “We have received numerous enquiries about supporting UV disinfection robots, cleaning robots, and delivery robots in quarantine zones,” he added. The startup is currently deploying its solution to assist several international firms who are involved in these areas.

Also Read: In brief: Temasek reportedly in talks to invest US$100M in Zomato; SGInnovate launches ‘Deep Tech for Good’

Telemedicine in the spotlight

Experts predict that radical changes in healthcare resulting from COVID-19 will finally break down the regulatory and psychological barriers that have impeded the widespread adoption of telemedicine. With physical resources strained and hospitals telling patients to stay away unless necessary, the healthcare industry has a strong urgency to implement remote diagnostic and care solutions.

For TeleMedC CEO Para Segaram, the crisis has reinforced his belief in using telemedicine to solve healthcare problems. TeleMedC, which provides AI-powered diagnostic solutions for point-of-care screening and virtual management of eye diseases, is seizing this opportunity to change people’s thoughts on digital preventive healthcare.

The startup has received interest from clinicians in Singapore, Australia, and the US about implementing their solution in the near future.

Mitigating coronavirus risk also is a key concern for Biorithm, which has developed a wearable device that enables continuous and automated monitoring of fetal and maternal heart rates. According to CEO Amrish Nair, clinicians seeking to reduce patient loads in hospitals are starting to embrace telehealth and its benefits, which may spark a healthcare revolution in the near-term.

“Pregnant women have always been classified as a vulnerable group and it is important to ensure they have continued access to care. Our solution allows clinicians to continue monitoring fetal health at the desired frequency while keeping expecting mothers out of the hospital. We are offering a ‘lite’ version of our solution for free to public healthcare providers during this time,” he says.

Also Read: How startups can adapt to a reopening economy

Staying home but thinking global

For some startups, the coronavirus has created a renewed urgency to look for new pastures abroad, despite added complexities due to international travel restrictions.

Just before the coronavirus hit, Philipp von Pein, Co-founder and CEO of Attonics Systems, was gearing up to expand his spectrometry startup to Germany and establish a European head office. Now, with a drop in demand from his existing customers, he is going virtual to connect with prospective investors and customers in Europe.

“We joined the Scaler8 market expansion programme in March, which has been immensely helpful in helping us gain industry insights and connecting us to corporations in Germany to pitch our products in virtual meetings,” says von Pein.

With a small domestic market, the Singapore government has enhanced support schemes for startups to enter high-potential overseas markets and promote their innovations on a global level. Singapore firms can tap on the Startup SG Equity scheme and Market Readiness Assistance Grant, as well as participate in market expansion programmes conducted by Enterprise Singapore’s Global Innovation Alliance network, such as Scaler8.

In these uncertain times, the courage and foresight to think global and seize new opportunities can help businesses better position themselves to bounce back and grow fast during the eventual economic recovery.

A whole new world

One thing is undeniable – it will be a different world after the coronavirus. A decade ago, the 2008 – 2009 financial crisis provided fertile ground for the emergence of a generation of unicorn companies. Similarly, the current COVID-19 pandemic presents a unique opportunity for startups to demonstrate the benefits of disruptive technologies.

Hence, beyond ensuring their startup’s survival, founders need to think big and start taking a leading role to drive global industry transformation now and beyond.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas and earn a byline by submitting a post.

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Healthcare industry across the world has faced enormous setbacks in the past few months when the novel coronavirus affected a million lives in the most fatal manner.

The industry was all set to conquer the world when an unknown disease put public as well as private health sector companies in a difficult situation.

As social distancing becomes the new normal, here’s how the healthcare and technology could change in a post-pandemic world.

Telemedicine

It is a comprehensive term for giving remote medicinal services exchange between the patients and the doctors. Data and communication, involving internet technology, are utilized for recording patient’s history, past or ongoing clinical diagnosis or treatment, and reviewing the reports.

Telemedicine-empowered machines convert the patient’s location into a fully equipped clinic. The prognosis is communicated to the patient via internet alongside consult and a prescription, meaning geography will not prevent them from having access to medicine.

Medical experts report how patients are gradually taking interest in telemedicine services. While it is still believed that telehealth industry may be an obstruction when it comes to the doctor-patient relationship, the current situation has demonstrated that it really improves this relationship instead, with high degrees of fulfillment, particularly as it gives patients quick and consistent access to their confided in the clinician.

In a world after the pandemic where social distancing must be strictly followed, telemedicine can prove to helpful. We are looking at a future in which allied services such as nutrition consult, physiotherapy, psychology, etc. will move from clinics to at-home facilities.

Also Read: Why Singapore is ASEAN’s sandbox for innovation in healthtech

Telemedicine increase doctors’ capacity for providing health care, even to remotely situated patients. It will also ensure better productivity on their part as they will be able to treat more patients virtually than they could otherwise. Countries, including India, are taking interest in this sphere and what is now the need of the hour could become a new typical order of the future.

Wearable Technology

Researches have claimed that data from a wearable gadget can detect coronavirus side effects days before you even acknowledge you’ve been infected. That simply changes the purpose of fitness trackers from counting steps and calories to detecting viruses.

The reports suggest that Fitbits and Apple Watches may end up being a viable early-detection framework and they could help revive work and home environments — and advance from customer tech oddities into health essentials. This will empower patients as with the help of technology and wearable devices, they will be aware of their health and hygiene.

As these organisations develop prototypes that are increasingly inspired by healthcare, wearables of the future could come with more sensors. For example, Fitbits now gather heart information while an Apple Watch application can recognise atrial fibrillation and both Apple and Google, are also planning to set up contact tracing technology for wearables which could make the detection process smooth.

Artificial Intelligence>

Healthcare is another such industry that is witnessing super-fast changes with the introduction of AI. In a worldwide exertion to make healthcare progressively comprehensive with expansive advantages, while making it more financially savvy, accurate and fast, the industry is utilizing the most recent AI innovations as a key to foster development.

Computing, networking, and security automation are driving constant and unprecedented growth of AI’s role in healthcare sector.

Also Read: News Roundup: E-commerce apps are beginning to recover from global health crisis

It is because of the advent of artificial intelligence and its influence on the healthcare that home diagnostics and at-home care is possible today.

Patients can capture their health data through at-home diagnostic devices, combined with home servicing of lab tests which help them track their conditions, share it with their doctors remotely, and get a consultation. Artificial Intelligence has been able to guide patients and help doctors with accurate and fast clinical support.

Telecommunication in the field of health care is going to increase as people get used to ‘quarantine’. The quantity of telehealth consults has risen exponentially during this pandemic and it will increase manifolds once it’s over.

During this time, with a rise in patient queries and a lack of one-to-one contact with doctors, AI-fuelled customer assistance can be utilised as the front line of correspondence. Dissimilar to old IVR’s, AI-empowered client care will comprehend the patient’s needs, and chatbots could make the transition easier.

Robotic Technology

Research labs and companies are making robots, including one intended to let health care workers remotely take blood tests and perform mouth swabs. These robots could have a significant effect in the future debacles as more countries are taking an interest in technology.

Robots are helping first responders in many ways, such as:

In emergency clinics, specialists and medical attendants, relatives, and even receptionists are utilising robots to communicate with patients while standing in a permissible range of contact.

Also Read: These 4 medtech startups will help you bust health myths during COVID-19 crisis

They are cleaning rooms and delivering medicines, taking care of the charts, and other additional work. They are even shipping samples (of infected patients) to research centres for testing.

In public, public health care providers are utilising robots to splash disinfectants in open spaces. Drones are giving thermal imagery to help recognise contaminated residents and implement isolation techniques and social distancing norms. Robots are also helping in broadcasting health awareness messages and helping people learn about infection and social distancing.

Open surveillance for contact tracing

COVID-19 won’t be the world’s last pandemic, so this conceivable not so distant future situation could only be the beginning. There is a wide assortment of advanced innovations turning out far and wide to help check the spread of the novel coronavirus. Contact tracing, specifically, helps in surveillance and study of the distribution and patterns of diseases in a confined area, which makes it an area of interest & investments for the government.

It is how health professionals can identify the primary bearer of the virus followed by people he/she may have infected, to disengage those in danger, and stop the virus from spreading. It’s a reliable examination technique that has been used to effectively battle several diseases including measles, HIV, and Ebola.

Nations around the globe and now is being used to contain the coronavirus. Simultaneously, organisations such as Apple and Google are building frameworks to help grow and automate the contact tracing and tell users who may have become possibly infected.

Contact tracing is a three-step process involving test, trace, and isolate. While testing is irrefutably the top priority, it is also important for health professionals to discover the individuals who have been infected.

Contact tracing is indispensable for preventing a fatal disease from spreading fast. When the infected patients have been distinguished, the doctors can put those individuals in an isolation center before they spread the virus further.

Also Read: Holmusk closes US$21.5M Series A to build real-world evidence platform for mental health

Programmers are working strenuously to manufacture applications, services, and frameworks for a reliable contact tracing: recognising and telling every one of the individuals who have met an infection bearer. Some of them have been proven to be brief, while others are invasive.

Since this is the means by which innovation can help set up a new world order for another pandemic, administering bodies are required to take control and set up guidelines for ethical contact tracing.

Science has been proven to make significant discoveries when it comes to diseases, by seeing how it works, and finding better approaches to stop it. Doubtlessly the coronavirus pandemic will likewise require a reconsidering of needs and reorientation of methodologies as social distancing becomes inevitable.

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Register for our next webinar: How to pivot your growth strategy post COVID-19

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas and earn a byline by submitting a post.

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The post How technology and healthcare can work together in a post-pandemic world appeared first on e27.